And it came to pass after this, Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David.

To the risk of being ridiculed and making an idiot of myself I am going to ponder about poverty in Australia... I will start here to say that I saw poverty and sickness in Africa beyond the imaginable. Actually, my indigenous cook was paid far more than I was (I was getting peanuts), though it was ridiculously low moneys, but she had six kids to look after and I had none....

So I will keep my crooked analysis of the subject on Australian median poverty in a somewhat "ruthless" calculated manner... Which is very rotten of me as there are real needs out there...

The federal opposition has called for a police investigation into Prime Minister Julia Gillard's role in establishing a union association her former boyfriend used to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Our nation might be rich but rampant consumerism is not making us any happier

The government has blocked the disclosure of a set of confidential letters written by Prince Charles to ministers.

Memo to those on the hill: be mindful, the electorate may be catching on that all your noise is sound and fury that signifies nothing, Nicholas Stuart writes.

By contrast, Russia and China are led by pragmatic governments guided by the concepts of profit and self-interest. They support and want to do business with existing governments and governing systems around the world. This has made them the 21st century’s major global powers of the right.

Cabinet Office proposals to expand the use of secret courts will create a "secret justice system straight from the pages of a Kafka novel", an Amnesty International report will warn on Monday.

Broadcaster Bill Deller discusses WikiLeaks, the CIA and the ALP, and why Australia won’t get a seat on the UN Security Council.